12/31 - Madison Square Garden - New York, NY - Post-Show Discussion and Review

[Superfreakie]

pHiSh
2010-12-31
Madison Square Garden
New York, NY


SET I: Punch You in the Eye, AC/DC Bag, Moma Dance, Scent of a Mule, Burn that Bridge*, Weigh, Ocelot@, Beauty of my Dreams, Gone, Rock and Roll

SET II: Wilson, 46 Days, Sand, NICU, DWD>GHOST>YEM>Manteca jam>YEM

SET III: Meatstick%>Auld Lang Syne>After Midnight, Backwards Down the Number Line, Piper>Free, Waste, Slave to the Traffic Light, Grind

ENCORE: First Tube

*First time played with Phish. (Should of forever remained a soundcheck song)
@With Auld Lang Syne tease
%With dancers from countries around the world singing lyrics in their mother tongues.

[GBL]

2nd set was the business!

[Buffalo Budd]

How'd you feel about that one SF?
Missed the LST  :shakehead:

[susep]

pHiSh
2010-12-31
Madison Square Garden
New York, NY


SET I: Punch You in the Eye, AC/DC Bag, Moma Dance, Scent of a Mule, Burn that Bridge*, Weigh, Ocelot@, Beauty of my Dreams, Gone, Rock and Roll

SET II: Wilson, 46 Days, Sand, NICU, DWD>GHOST>YEM>Manteca jam>YEM

SET III: Meatstick%>After Midnight, Backwards Down the Number Line, Piper>Free, Waste, Slave to the Traffic Light, Grind

ENCORE: First Tube

*First time played with Phish. (Should of forever remained a soundcheck song)
@With Auld Lang Syne tease
%With dancers from countries around the world singing lyrics in their mother tongues.

highlights in bold.  everything else = meh. 

[G. Augusto]

Ghost was great.
Show was ok.

[mistercharlie]

You forgot Auld Lang Syne between Meatstick and After Midnight. Also, First Tube had Auld Lang Syne teases.

Highlights I heard were Ghost, YEManteca and Meatstick, (Meatstick more for the sights than the music)

[blatboom]

yeah thought the Ghost jam was really really good.  then in typical 3.0 fashion they played a bunch of songs they could jam, but didn't.  was Sand even 10 minutes?

[ytowndan]

That Meatstick was totally rehearsed.  LOL

[G. Augusto]

Was Piper 4 minutes?

[mistercharlie]

That Meatstick was totally rehearsed.  LOL

Of course it was. But thankfully it was well rehearsed.

[mistercharlie]

Was Piper 4 minutes?

I don't know if it was even that long.

[susep]

yeah thought the Ghost jam was really really good.  then in typical 3.0 fashion they played a bunch of songs they could jam, but didn't.  was Sand even 10 minutes?

Trey needs to find his way back in their collective gestalt otherwise we'll just keep getting nostalgia.   

[ytowndan]

Was Piper 4 minutes?

I don't know if it was even that long.

Yeah it was a tiny little thing.

[susep]

I haven't heard 30Dec2010 but I'm assuming it was better overall then tonight?

[Superfreakie]

How'd you feel about that one SF?

I thought Trey and Fish were far more in sync tonight than last night's second set, by leaps and bounds. The band sounded much tighter as a unit and Trey's fingers were accurate. BUT, as for jamming, there was nothing, it was a vapid performance. There seriously wasn't a "real" jam the entire night, save for a brief Sand theme that was abandoned before it blossomed and a Page led Ghost that pushed Trey into some really nice interplay, but nothing really out there. I still had a blast, am wasted, and the Meatstick was a GREAT New Year's prank. But would I ever listen to this show again. No.

As I was watching it, and susep made the same comment in the LST, it really felt like a greatest hits nostalgia act, which made me kind of feel sad inside cause this is what Trey never wanted. Now, this past year, there have been shows which I thought were innovative Phish. Which really had me back in hard. But this was sorely lacking....and this was New Years in New York. Think about the performances that that venue has witnessed. I think Trey is having real trouble finding that creative musical spark again now that he is sober. He gets off on rock peaking a song, it's his new drug. You can see it in his face. And as a result, there is zero patience in his playing and thus nothing new can spring forth. He simply moves to the next rock peak.